EPISODE 004 | APPLE PODCASTS | SPOTIFY

A huge welcome, today we'll be discussing the benefits and challenges of working for yourself. If you've ever dreamed of ditching the 9-to-5 and taking control of your own destiny, this episode is for you. We'll explore the freedom and flexibility that comes with being your own boss, as well as some of the hurdles you might face along the way. From setting your own hours to choosing the projects that align with your passions, we'll cover it all.

First starting with the benefits, followed by the challenges you can face:

BENEFIT: FLEXIBILITY

For me, the number one reason I wanted to start my own business, was to have flexibility and to decide my own routine. I knew fine well that it wouldn’t mean fewer hours, in fact, I was wide open to knowing that it would entail far more hours, particularly in my first few years, but to be able to decide what hours they would be, meant the world to me.

I guess, to some extent I haven’t ever been very good at being told what to do and I find regular routine, particularly a routine that someone else has set, can make me feel despondent and demotivated. Don’t get me wrong, I do love routine, routine helps me to achieve my daily tasks, but I feel so much better when I set my own routine. Within our business, we all work remotely and we set our own hours. To me, that is hugely, hugely important and it means we can fit our work into the best hours for our own, unique set ups, and that way, I feel everyone gets the best from themselves, as they know when they find it easier to work.

When I first started my business, I was a night owl, I would work late into the evenings. I loved the quiet of the night time, I found I was able to easily focus in a dark room, with minimal light and I could fully immerse myself in whatever project I was working on. It was also the only time I really had to focus, as we had recently had our first son, he was only a few months old at the time when we first launched.

Then over the years, something has changed and I have naturally switched to becoming a morning person. I love going to bed early, and in the lighter months to wake up as the sun rises, at the moment that is at about 5am, and then in the winter I will get up before the sunrises. I love being able to complete the first project of the day, before everyone in my family has woken up and the house begins to fill with noise and morning distractions, it fills me with motivation and helps to make me feel really good. And then I aim to stop work early, so I still have plenty of time to enjoy the rest of the day and spend time with my family. To be able to get outside, get plenty of fresh air, still with time to have a proper supper, to sit down and then do something else in the evening. The main point is, I dictate my own hours and I have complete flexibility.

By setting my own hours, it also means that on the spur of the moment I can attend the children’s events. We have three children and our youngest is very sporty. And it means the world to her, and to me too, to be able to watch her matches. I love the feeling of being in control to decide that I can work early or perhaps later another day, to have that really important time off with my children, and to be fully present, without any focus on work or that horrendous feeling of guilt. I want to be fully present in everything that I am doing, and to really enjoy whatever it is I am focussed on in that moment, and worrying what a boss may or may not feel, is not something that I want in my life!

For me, being able to be flexible and to choose my own hours, is one of the most incredible positives that comes from being your own boss.

Now, I know that not everyone feels the same way. For some, a regular routine is something they crave, and removing the responsibility of having to create and set a schedule, creates a feeling of calm and reassurance, and that is fabulous and so essential that our world is a mixture of all types of people.

If though you can relate to my story and that feeling of needing flexibility, then I hope you have found a way either in becoming your own boss or to work for a phenomenal business that honours your time and gives you the freedom, and trusts you to complete your projects in the hours that work best for you and your home set up.

And if you are in a position where you don’t feel you have the freedom to choose your hours, then maybe, just maybe you have a calling to become your own boss, and it’s my hope that these episodes will give you that exact support. I want to give you the confidence and guidance to help you find your right direction and the opportunity to establish your own business.

BENEFIT: UTILISING your unique skills

I also love the control I have over the projects that I can work on. I am in the driver’s seat and can really choose projects that play to my strengths and subjects that genuinely light me up.

Although I am so hugely grateful for all my previous job opportunities, from working in cafes and bars as a student, to working in corporate settings for over a decade post-graduation, I never had a job that truly and honestly lit me up. Each one of my jobs met my needs for a salary, it helped to give me part of an identity, provided so many invaluable skills and I met some great people, but I never had a salaried job that I felt passionately about, nor in fact did I ever have a job that was fully aligned with my skills.

And I would see the drive and positive light that came from other entrepreneurs, specifically when they loved what they did that was client facing, sales roles where people could fully utilise their charm and levels of empathy and persuasion, or whether it was a research based role, requiring intricate detailed and analytical work, whatever it was, the fact that it was something that was completely aligned to their skills set, and you could see the light in their eyes and their genuine love for what they did, I wanted to feel that. I wanted to feel good about myself, and that I was adding true value to something.

I had a strong desire to be the absolute best that I could be. There are so many things that I am really bad at, that are absolutely not aligned to my skills, and on the other side, there are plenty of things that I’m great at, and come very naturally to me. And it’s these projects that I love doing the most. It’s exactly the same as everyone. We all have our own unique strengths and skills, and if we are in roles that are not aligned to these, then each day we are simply reinforcing that we are not quite good enough.

To focus on projects that are naturally aligned to what we love to do and are great at, then we are going to excel, we are absolutely going to make a difference in the world, we will have impact and we are going to feel great doing it, which in turn moves us further forward and it becomes a natural loop, that simply grows and grows.

It’s essential we focus on aspects of projects that come naturally to us. Now, as an entrepreneur, there will always be projects that we have to do that are not necessarily tasks that we love, but there are almost always ways that we can amend them slightly, so they are conducted in a way that keeps it straightforward. As long as the majority of our work is made up of those motivational projects, that is absolutely enough to help us get through the projects that are essential but a little less appealing!

And of course, as our businesses grow, we can bring in extra hands, whether outsourcing, freelance support or employees, finding support from others whose strengths are aligned to the necessary projects, where our skills are not.

BENEFIT: UNLIMITED EARNING POTENTIAL

Now, I am a little hesitant to add this one in here for a number of reasons, but it is an important positive. Being your own boss, can lead to unlimited earning potential. When you have the right strategies and systems in place, you have loyal customers who see huge value in your offerings, and there is clear growth for your business, then there is absolutely limitless earning potential.

But, I feel very strongly that financial reward shouldn’t be a main driver for working for yourself. It can be very hard, and there are always risks involved. You can of course and in fact you must take calculated risks, and it’s essential never to jump into something before you have first tested and you know beyond enough doubt that it will be viable. But if your core and main focus is financial reward, then I feel you will have the wrong priorities in place, and you are unlikely to be successful.

Instead, if your focus is on your core strengths, listening to your customers and providing the very best experience for them, be willing to work hard and open to finding solutions then financial reward will naturally follow.

You can control the quality of your offerings, there are a huge number of different systems in place to help you automate your business, and you can absolutely create a phenomenal experience for your clients and customers, and then on the back of that, unlimited earning is absolutely a potential, but if your sole focus is on earning as much money as possible, you will prioritise the wrong aspects of a successful business, and I feel it will quickly lead to feeling wholly despondent.

Now, this is also very different to not being focussed on money. That is so important. Of course, we all want to be paid for our efforts, and we must. I have dreams and visions, and I have a family to look after, so of course one of my motivations is to receive a salary that provides the lifestyle I desire, but it is not one of my core focuses.

BENEFIT: PERSONAL SATISFACTION

And finally, a huge positive for being your own boss, the huge sense of creating something completely unique, something that was a vision and is your own doing, through hard work and persistence, it brings the most incredible feeling of personal satisfaction.

When you're able to bring your vision to life and see the results of your hard work, it's honestly a feeling like no other.

There are so many projects that we have worked on, every single one of them started simply from an idea and a belief that it might be possible. This very channel for example, was merely an idea a few months ago, something that I felt might be a possibility and an option for our business, to help support others and to be able to reach more people. It has taken so many different steps to get here, and we of course have so many more to take to continue it, but it feels so good to have got to where we are today.

It's like anything, it’s wonderful to be given something, but when you have earnt something from your own hard work, it has so much more value and gives such an incredible feeling of happiness.

A friend of mine told me a brilliant story the other day. His 12 year old son asked for a particular pair of running shoes that his friends had. Now stepping aside completely from thoughts on whether or it’s right for children to have items just because their friends have them, regardless of that, it was something my friend’s son really wanted. Instead of buying the shoes for him, he was told that if he completed a series of jobs, and these were genuinely helpful jobs, he would earn enough to buy the shoes himself. They were tough jobs, and required him giving up other things that would be considerably more fun. He was very tired at the end of each day, but over a period, he had finally earnt enough money to buy the shoes he wanted. The day he bought them, he put them on and ran outside. The ground was wet and muddy, despite being excited to wear them, he also didn’t want to spoil them, so he quickly ran back inside and changed into another pair of shoes. This is an adventurous boy who had never previously cared too much about whether his clothes were muddy or not. But those shoes represented so much to him, the fact that he had worked hard and had achieved what he had set out to achieve. It was an enormous feeling of satisfaction.

And I’m pretty sure we can all relate to that story!

With positives, there are of course negatives, and I don’t want to only tell you how fabulous running your own business is, I want to be fully open and transparent, so here are the challenges of working for yourself:

CHALLENGE: LACK OF STRUCTURE

While flexibility is certainly a highlight, it can also be a challenge. Without a set schedule, it can be difficult to maintain a healthy work-life balance. But, hey, when you're your own boss, those lines can sometimes get a little blurry.

And it’s essential that you are OK with that. Yes, of course, there are many ways you can implement a workable schedule, but it is down to you, you have to action it and make it happen, there is absolutely no one else out there who is going to do that for you.

It is completely possible to switch off at the end of the day, but you also have to be ready to jump on something if it’s needed, and it’s essential that you are surrounded by understanding and supportive people to be able to do that.

There might be times when you need to check yourself, the times when you are putting too much focus on your work projects, to the detriment of those around you, I have certainly been guilty of that, and one of the reasons I really want to help others, is to help you not to be in that position, particularly in the first few years.

So it is imperative that you are happy to remain flexible, at times you will need to work through a lack of structure, until you have workable systems and processes in place – this is particularly true at the beginning, but also when big changes happen and key periods of growth take place within your business. It’s so important that you are able to check yourself, and refocus again, back on other important aspects of life!

CHALLENGE: UNCERTAIN INCOME

The second challenge, and this follows one of the positives that I mentioned earlier, is that you can face a lack of a steady income. Some months may be booming, and others may be slower. It’s crucial to have a solid financial plan in place to weather those ups and downs.

I will be talking much more about this in upcoming episodes, to help you alleviate this level of uncertainty and to focus on sources of income that will bring you a stable and enjoyable business.

CHALLENGE: ISOLATION

Let's face it, working for yourself can be lonely. Without co-workers to collaborate with, it can be a struggle to stay motivated and inspired. That's why having a strong support system is so important, whether that's friends, family, or a mastermind group.

I also love collaborations, they are not only a super marketing strategy when you get them right, but they also bring you together with like-minded entrepreneurs.

Unless you love your own company most of the time, it’s essential that as an entrepreneur you are happy to be proactive in contacting people, to help you avoid feeling isolated.

I love the mixture of happily working in isolation on a series of different projects, and then other days working with large teams, when we all come together and achieve something much more powerful and wonderful when we are able to share our skills and strengths.

CHALLENGE: RESPONSIBILITIES

When you work for yourself, you wear all the hats. Client relations, accounting, marketing... the list goes on. You have to be so happy and prepared to do it all. And you have to be resourceful, and results driven. If you don’t naturally focus on solutions, don’t worry, it is simply a skill that you can absolutely learn.

There has been scientific research after research showing how everyone has the ability to focus on finding solutions. The very first step is to know that there is always a way to figure something out, and if there is not, then it was never meant to be and it’s not something worth worrying about, but for pretty much every obstacle you encounter, there will be some sort of solution to it, and it’s up to you to figure it out.

You will constantly fail at things, that is part of being an entrepreneur, and in fact, the most successful people will have failed the most, it is simply having the courage to pick yourself up again, not focussing on what’s gone wrong and instead looking to fix it as a priority, and then embracing all the incredible learning that comes from it.

I absolutely love this level of responsibility, and once you have overcome your first obstacle and found workarounds, it can become quite addictive. When you have achieved something that was at first really tricky, it brings such an incredible feeling of satisfaction, and it is something that everyone can learn and feel.

I hope you've found the discussion insightful and that it's given plenty ideas. Remember, the road to success may not always be smooth, but with perseverance, resourcefulness, and a strong support system, you can achieve your dreams and create a life that's truly fulfilling.

Thank you so much for joining me today, and join me next time for more tips, advice, and personal experience on how to take control of your own destiny as an entrepreneur.

And as always, I would love to hear your thoughts and your own experiences; you are always very welcome to send me direct messages on Instagram.

Warmest,
Philippa x